Seeing Forever
by reiyukichan
Summary: On a clear day, you can see forever. I saw forever in his eyes. Kaka/Iru Yaoi.
1. Prologue: Clarity

**Disclimer: **I don not own Naruto or anything it is associated with. I write for pleasure, not for profit.

**Author's Notes: **Hello all, welcome to the workings of my mind. Sorry that it's a bit stuffy in here. Though this is my first ever work of expressed rational thought, some of you may know me as 'That annoying chick who leaves endless reviews'/ 'That annoying chick who put me on her alert list and never bothered leaving a review'. My appologies to all I have offended. I have read every completed story of every rating in the Kaka/Iru community here on and have enjoyed most of them. However, I am and always will be against taking up someone's time to leave a one sentence review declaring how much I love your story and demanding that you update it. Kudos to all do that, but I never leave a superficial response. On another note, there are many stories that I'm currently reading that will recive a lenghty review once the story is completed . My props go out the the authors of "Underneath the Scars", "The Little Things", "Training Kakashi", "Teach Me To Live", "The Heart of a Shinobi" , "The Space Between" "Falling Leaves" and many others that I can't think of off the top of my head. If you are an author I have mentioned, or an author of a Kaka/Iru story that you desperately need reviewed, feel free to yell at me and get my butt in gear.

**Please Read!**

Now that I have settled that matter, I present the prologue of "Seeing Forever". It is set in a slightly AU version of the Naruverse and any inconsistencies with the cannon will be explained as the story progresses. This is a yaoi story involving Iruka and Kakashi. If you have issues with the pairing or the content, please keep them to yourself. I am not intrested in hearing about how disgusting I am for writing about gay people, nor do I want to read a "Kaka/Iru is such a crack pairing" rant. There are no warnings, as of yet ,but the story is rated M for a reason. Anything that might put some people at unease will be properly labled as the story goes on. This story is unbetaed, and I am awful with grammar. If anyone would like to volunteer to fix my unconventional slaughter of the English language, please let me know. Now that I have taken up more time with my author's notes then it will likely take to read the story, I'm going to shut up and pray that my work speaks for itself.

* * *

It is a rare thing, in life, to ever have a moment of true clarity. All my life people have been calling me a genius, yet I've been walking through life day by day never quite able to break through that intangible film blocking off the fine line between knowing and truly understanding. 

It was clear that day. The lazy fog that often swirled across my vision, keeping everything just out of my reach had faded and for the first time, I was able to accurately use the term 'beautiful'. I learned that day that salvation not only had a face and a name, but a color as well. The color of my salvation was brown.

I have never fancied the color brown. It was the color of filth and waste, of unforgiving ground, tiny dogs that don't know when to shut their mouths, and of blood that has dried to peeling. It would figure that brown was also the color of the most expressive pair of eyes I had ever seen and at the moment that gaze locked with my own, brown had wiggled its way into my mind and had begun associating itself with the most pleasant of my memories.

There is a saying that on a clear day, you can see forever. Never in my life did I think that this was possible, not only because of my ambiguous sense of clarity, but because 'forever' was an inconsequential term in the life a shinobi. There can be no such thing as 'forever' when you don't belong to yourself and exist in a constant wheel of life threatening situations.

At the risk of sounding corny, I saw forever in his eyes that day.

The moment his big doe eyes locked with mine, I saw everything. Everything I could be, everything I ever wanted. My forever was locked inside his eyes. When he passed out seconds later, I remember wishing that forever wasn't quite so fickle. This day, that wish stands even firmer.

More often than not these days, when my thought process wanders back into what was, it can't help but take a turn into what might have been. I find myself bitterly wishing that I had been looking away when those eyes sought comfort, that he had been killed on spot when he transcended the boundaries of our village, that he had stayed put and never come back here. I often break out in tears moments later.

I can never find it in me to believe myself when I say that I wish I had never met him.

I'm sure the same statement goes for the entire village. How can anyone find it in themselves to hate the man who stumbled into our primitive little patch of grey existence and turned it into the vibrant metropolis I am now able to watch from the rooftops? They don't. They carved his face next to the ones of our village's leaders, letting the scar across his nose forever mar the left side of the great monument. They built buildings, formed alliances and held festivals in his name. All for him, all for the man who created a future by demolishing the past and unintentionally immortalizing himself in our history books.

Yet I can never bring myself to happy about having once known him.

I avoid his buildings, glare at his alliances and stay inside for his festival. I much prefer to stare at a stone with a vision that is now crystal clear and lament to myself over the price I had paid to get it. Wallowing in self-pity always has been one of my most practiced hobbies.

Now I stand alone, fixated on the solid jade stone in front of me, recalling with infallible memory the silky locks of hair, the warm tone of voice, the reformation executed with a never ending smile and the name that tingled the tongue and caressed the breeze.

_Iruka _

My Iruka

* * *

Well, there you have it. Now I'm off to pat myself on the back for finally sitting down and writing _something. _Feel free to drop me a line and tell me what you think, though no one is obligated, seeing as I often don't extend the same courtesy to the writers who are much better than I am. On another note, I am sorry for shortness of the chapter/ confusion that it might have caused. I hope to clear things up in later chapters along with extending the length. Thanks go out to the readers who have taken time to read this mess and I do hope that I have hooked you in for later chapters.

Until next time,

Your Friendly Neighborhood Psycho


	2. Chapter 1: What Once Was

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or anything it is associated with. I do, however, own this sad excuse for a plot line. I write for pleasure, not profit.

**Author's Notes: **Wow, I actually made it to the next chapter. That officially makes this the longest thing that I have ever written. My mighty fanfiction powers really shine through in this chapter, and I advise anyone who has a problem with AU stories to click the back button conveniently located at the top of the screen. Anyone who has a problem with yaoi or the Iruka/Kakashi pairing is advised to do the same. To all others, read on. This chapter is dedicated to my three wonderful reviewers; TeenagersScareMe, KareNeko, and Atheia17; All the authors who keep me alive with their wonderful work; my best friend Mikey, who is usually the reason I do anything; and anyone who is taking time out of their day to read this mess.

**On Names: **Please note that while the story is told in Kakashi's point of view, Iruka's name will rarely be used and he will be referred to as "Him" (note the capital) Also, Orochimaru is called "The Snake" or "Master Snake" in Kakashi's mind. This is not a favorable nickname that other people use often, nor is it what his name actually means. I also use "Shinobi" as a general term for ninja in here, though "shinobi" is usually the term used for a male ninja while "Konichi" is the term for female. When I use "Shinobi" to describe a group of ninja, I am NOT implying that they are only male.

* * *

It was drab day in Konoha, when He reappeared in our melancholy lives. The constant wars that seemed to have been constantly plaguing our country had finally died down and as a result, our mission quota had dropped to an almost stand still. Our only duties now were to send out low level ninja teams help along with repairs to the countries that had come to our aid, in an act of general diplomacy. Nothing, of course, that required any highly paid manpower to achieve.

You would honestly think that a village full of off-duty ninja would be more entertaining.

From my vantage point atop the roof of the Hokage tower, the most interesting thing happening in town was the sight of the wind lazily sweeping small piles of leaves in intricate patterns through the empty streets.

I remembered when this town used to be alive, used to be a place worth fighting for. When we thrived under the rule of the Sandaime and the Yondaime, and there was no reason to be afraid to walk the streets. Now, our love and devotion for this village had morphed into sinister versions of fear and greed. Our village had reached its peak, we were at peace, wealthy, and revered as one of the nation's most powerful countries; but no one looked each other in the eyes anymore. Though we all worked together for a common purpose, and were constantly saving each other's lives; no one had friends anymore.

I have always been somewhat of a loner, but living in a place where you don't know if you can trust anyone can have any person bordering on the brink of insanity, especially when your mind is already so fragile.

It was no longer necessary to lock yourself in your house in case of attack, but people did it anyway. That single piece of paper had brought with it a village full of untrustworthy shinobi, frightened civilians, and a palpable aura of paranoia that had you watching your back on a brightly lit road full of people.

That piece of paper was a snake in disguise. The snake's name was Orochimaru.

-

I can still recall, with vivid detail, the very first time I saw the snake. Unlike my first encounter with Him, the only thing I saw that day was the lifeless body of the man who had saved our village, rebuilt our wills and led us, without fear, into a dark age of war.

The first words out of the snake's mouth were, "Our Hokage is dead".

I should have known then that things would only get worse from there.

From there, I can only recall a jumbled mess of screams, doubt, and sobs. I faintly remember half assed explanations of "Sannin" "Was away" "Genin team" "Sensei" and most importantly, "Chose me as a successor". That night was spent mulling over the words in my head, trying to place that off feeling that wouldn't't leave me alone.

The next day, a funeral service was held for the Sandaime. There were more tears, more screams and a mutual sense of foreboding that every villager seemed to be experiencing. Afterward, every shinobi, and some civilians, were required to attend the inauguration ceremony for our Godaime Hokage, Orochimaru.

That feeling still had not gone away, and I was right to assume that something about the snake was the cause. I should have said something then. I was one the most, if not THE most, skilled ninja in Konoha. People might have trusted me; I might have been able to have them doubt Orochimaru's intentions from the start. Instead, I unsheathed a small orange book from my kunai pouch and immersed myself in a fantasy of poorly written smut.

Later, after Orochimaru had began his regime and I had finally decided that something was just plain wrong with him, I went looking for the story I had conveniently removed myself from receiving. It took four bottles of alcohol, a well placed grope, and some absolutely inspired smooth talking on my part; but I finally was able to con Orochimaru's story out of a civilian girl with a brilliant memory and a taste for expensive sake.

-

That night, I left the bar absolutely appalled and disgusted with myself. Orochimaru had our village wrapped around his bony little fingers. He had walked into our village, sporting the body of our beloved Hokage and a vague story of how he had heard that his precious village was in danger so he ran all the way back home from the parts unknown he had reached in his travels as a legendary Sannin only to find his brilliant sensei locked in fierce battle with warriors of The Hidden Mist. Supposedly, the Sandaime had sealed an entire battlefield of Mist nin set on invading Konoha and Orochimaru arrived with his team just in time to hear the Sandaime give a heart wrenching speech on how he would gladly die for his village and was all too happy to leave it in control of his brilliant and beloved student. From there, the Mist nin were in such awe of the power of the leaf village, they agreed to end war and the new Hokage Orochimaru was sent home with a pat on the head, a shiny new peace treaty and the body of his dead sensei.

I ducked into the nearest ally and retched out three weeks worth of dinners.

The people of Konoha had believed him. _We believed him_. We believed him because he came in and blind sided us with a corpse and a promise of extended peace, and we were too grief stricken to through his smiles and empathetic facade. It sounded good, that's what mattered at the time. Now things were plummeting so fast in the wrong direction that we were all powerless to stop it, even if we did see it.

The worst part was, I knew all about it. That off feeling in the back of my head was the voice of Namikaze-sensei screaming that The Snake would never become Hokage because he was only interested in power, and the village would fall apart should he ever be given such a place of honor.

The village was splitting at the seams, and it was all my fault.

I suppressed another wave of nausea when I realized it had been Orochimaru who had killed the Sandaime.

-

Things only got worse from that point, as I predicted so long ago. Orochimaru brought in his goons, lackeys that lived and breathed only for The Snake and gave them all administrative positions in the Mission's office and in the Torture and Interrogation department. If any one of the ninja put even a fingernail out of line, they found themselves on an S rank document retrieval mission to the Cloud country. Ninja rank was not a factor; few ever came back alive.

Communication between fellow ninja was cut of. Anyone could be a spy, and anything said could be seen as a threat to Orochimaru's rule. On missions, we talked only of the mission. Off duty, we kept our eyes to the ground and pretended not to know each other.

In snake we trust, at least that's what anyone would tell you, should you ask.

-

Just when it seemed like things would never look up again, an alarm sounded, demanding that all available ninja report to the front gate. I showed up five minutes after the siren had turned off, book in hand, waiting for debriefing and wondering if I should have put on a pair of clean socks that morning.

There was murmuring among the shinobi gathered at the gate, everyone wondering what we had been called for. There was a rumor floating around that a gang of enemy nin had been spotted along the village outskirts, and we were gathered for immediate deployment in case of invasion.

The talking went on for a few moments, until Master Snake himself appeared in the center of the little gossip circle, silencing the crowd with his ominous presence. We stood in deafening silence for a few moments, before it was shattered to pieces with a series of ragged breaths. The only thing that could be heard for the next few minutes was the sound of breathing getting closer and closer, combined with the disturbing squelching of blood and flesh on tree leaves.

The gathered group held a cognitive breath as a brown figure slowly inched his way through our village gates, cradling his left side and greatly favoring his right leg. I couldn't't't keep my eyes off him, the feeling was almost surreal. Back then you could never get me to admit it, but I knew, from the moment I saw him, that our salvation had just hobbled its way through our gates as a disheveled mess of blood and dirt and brown.

I looked into the eyes of God for a moment, before they shut in exhaustion and the body they belonged to collapsed on the ground in front of our self appointed leader.

That was the last time he would be caught kneeling at the feet of The Snake.

_Konoha, meet Umino Iruka. _

* * *

**End Notes:** Orochimaru as Hokage? How dare I? I'm a bad, bad girl. On another note, I'm sorry for any tense problems in the story. The whole thing is set with Kakashi looking back on the past while staring at the memorial stone, as mentioned in the prologue. The part where he is remembering about Orochimaru is a memory within a memory, along with the part about the bar and the dark alley. I hope this cleared up any confusion this chapter may have caused, but if you don't get feel free to drop me a line. Hope you guys liked it, and that you will stick with it.

Thanks for reading

The Friendly Neighborhood Psycho

P.S.- Orochimaru's story about the Sandaime's death was _supposed _to be stupid and full of plot holes.


	3. Chapter 2: Catching Up With the Past

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or anything it is associated with. I do, however, own this sad excuse for a plot line. I write for pleasure, not profit.

**Author's Notes: **I'm very sorry that this chapter took so terribly long. I had to do a lot of research on the characters of Gai, Orochimaru and Ibiki. I hope that I've made them believable enough. On the plus side, this chapter is much longer than the other two, and even has some dialog in it! This chapter has the same warnings as the previous ones; AU, Yaoi, bad grammar, the works. I'm doing my best to keep this as understandable as possible, but Microsoft Word is worse at grammar then I am sometimes. Dedicated to the reviewers that keep me writing, the writers that keep me occupied, the best friend who keeps me insane and the readers who offer me their time. Love you guys!

**On Names: **Please note that while the story is told in Kakashi's point of view, Iruka's name will rarely be used and he will be referred to as "Him" (note the capital) Also, Orochimaru is called "The Snake" or "Master Snake" in Kakashi's mind. This is not a favorable nickname that other people use often, nor is it what his name actually means. I also use "Shinobi" as a general term for ninja in here, though "shinobi" is usually the term used for a male ninja while "Kunoichi" is the term for female. When I use "Shinobi" to describe a group of ninja, I am NOT implying that they are only male. For all who don't know/ don't remember, Jirobo and Kidomaru are members of the sound four that come to take Sasuke to Orochimaru.

* * *

The sound of flesh on cobblestone seemed to break the gathered group out of its trance like state. Almost as if a switch had been activated, every shinobi simultaneously turned to their neighbors and broke out in a furry of hushed gossip, each having their own theories as to who the man was and what he wanted with our village. 

I paid no mind to the chaos slowly erupting around me. My only concern at the moment was the unmoving brown mass collapsed at the feet of my worst enemy. The cherished porn novel I usually held in regard above all else was now clutched weakly in the hand now lying limp at my side as I waited for The Snake to bring the fate of the mysterious man.

I remember panicking and I remember pleading with Gods I didn't believe in to give The Snake just a tiny ounce of mercy so that he would order no harm done to the man. There was another feeling that I couldn't quite place, but this one was welcome and I knew that it would be extinguished if this man were to die.

I really didn't want that to happen.

The Snake stood, golden eyes glowering down at the man beneath him as if to pierce into his soul and read his every intention. It didn't take long for him to make up his mind about what he wanted done with the man, and he held up a pale hand in a fluid motion, demanding silence from the flustered group of shinobi.

"Jirobo, if you would, please pick up our guest and take him to the interrogation clinic. Tell Ibiki to keep him alive and to gather information on who he his and why he has come to our village. Tell him that he will report to me later this evening with the results." The Snake's tone was the epitome of calm as he addressed the burly man, never once giving us a hint of what he thought about the situation or what would happen to the man once he talked. The tower of a man known as Jirobo stepped forward.

"Yes, Lord Orochimaru," he replied with a curt nod of the head as he proceeded to scoop the unconscious man into his bulky arms, trying to mind his wounds but not taking much care.

Everyone watched as the two vanished in a puff of smoke before reluctantly turning their heads toward the Hokage, knowing that the fun was over and awaiting further instruction. The Snake stared at us for a moment, as if to ask what more we wanted from him, before opening his mouth to speak again.

"Kakashi, Genma, Raidou, Azuma, Kidomaru and Gai; I want the six of you to break into three man squads and patrol the boarders closely surrounding the village to make sure that there are no more….surprises in store for us. I expect your report this evening as well. As for the rest, you are dismissed."

The six of us nodded and voiced a, "Yes, Hokage-sama," in acknowledgement before wordlessly splitting into teams and bounding off into the treetops to begin our mission. As we left, I could hear the gathered ninja exploding into an uproar of conversation once again. This man sure had sparked some life into the village, if only for those precious few moments.

-

Our mission had been long and tedious. The six of us trudged back through the village gates seven hours after being deployed earlier; all sweaty and smelling like dirt. Kidomaru had vanished as soon as we returned, leaving the rest of us to fight over who would be reporting to the Hokage.

Genma hastily made up some wild excuse about taking his dead sister to the hospital for a final checkup, and demanded that Raidou come with him to ease the emotional trauma. Both had left before I could even hope to piece together everything he had said. I turned around in time to catch the confused look on Gai's face, and hear Azuma mumble something about how Kurenai was going to kill him for being late for dinner again. Gai blinked and Azuma vanished in a puff of smoke. Inside, I let out a pathetic whimper at the thought of being left alone with Gai.

I turned to face him, and could already see the beginnings of another pointless challenge being worked out in his head. Unfortunately for me, he had figured everything out by the time it clicked in my brain that I too should be making up some lame excuse and leaving.

"Well, my esteemed rival," Gai began, the first hint of a cheek splitting grin already on his face, "it seems that is has fallen upon the two of us to report our findings back to the dutiful Hokage."

Plan B: when in doubt, read porn. I once again unsheathed my trusty orange novel from my kunai pouch and buried myself behind it, hoping that Gai would eventually take the hint. Misfortune seemed to be on my side that day, as Gai is immune to subtleties. Had I gone through with that plan, we both would have been standing there all night and well into the next week.

We stood in silence for a couple minutes before I realized that Gai would not be taking the hint. With in exasperated sigh, I lowered my book enough to shoot Gai a one eyed glare.

"Is there something that you wanted?" I asked, flipping a page in my book and returning to my usual bored stare. Gai lit up like a Christmas tree and flashed me a blinding smile.

"Why yes, eternal rival. I propose that we engage in a youthful game of rock-paper-scissors! The loser of this challenge will have to go and report to our serpentine leader while the winner is free to do as they please. What do you say, my rival? Do you accept the challenge?"

I'll never for the life of me understand why Gai feels the need to dictate every challenge like it's an important Olympic event. I really had no other choice but to accept his challenge; he would never let me live it down if I had just walked away. I lowered by book a little more and grumbled out an unenthusiastic "Ok."

"YOSH!" Gai declared, pumping his fist into the air and flashing me another smile. "Ok, we will start on the count of three. One, two….THREE!"

Without paying any attention to his movements, I thrust my hand palm down into the empty air before me; knowing that Gai chose rock nine times out of ten. Who would have guessed that ten would choose to make an appearance that day?

"Scissors cut paper my esteemed rival, and it seems that I have won yet another challenge! That makes the score thirty-one to thirty, in my favor." Gai beamed and flashed me one of his 'Good Guy' poses. I internally gagged and wished his face would split in two from smiling so much. We stood in silence for a moment before he walked over and clasped me on the shoulder.

"I would love to stay in your youthful presence and talk more, Kakashi, but the hour is getting late and we should not keep our Hokage waiting." For a moment, I could swear that there was a hint of sadness in his eyes. I brushed it off to another bout of 'manly tears' he was experiencing from winning another challenge and tore my eyes away from him.

"Yeah, I guess I better get going." He removed his hand from my shoulder and I turned to start walking toward the Hokage tower, burying my face behind my book once again.

"Farewell, eternal rival! We shall meet again soon!" Gai called as I was halfway down the street. I held up a hand to say goodbye, and ignored the nagging voice in the back of my head telling me how much I missed Gai's stupid challenges.

-

I arrived at the Hokage tower about ten minutes later, having been in no hurry to meet with The Snake. I leisurely approached the door to the Hokage's office and was told by the ANBU guarding the door that the Hokage was in a meeting, and would see me in a few minutes.

I faked an annoyed sigh as a sign of defiance and leaned against the wall opposite the door to the office, absently turning pages in my book. Getting bored after a few minutes, I decided to snoop in on Master Snake's 'important meeting' and stretched my senses out to breech the walls of the office and listen in on the conversation.

It was Ibiki in the office, reporting to Orochimaru about the mysterious man from earlier. I had all but forgotten about him while I was out on the mission, but now that I had been reminded, my curiosity returned tenfold. I keened my ear a bit more and listened intently to every word being passed behind the door.

"- wasn't difficult to get him to talk at all, Hokage-sama. He told us his name the moment we asked and gave almost no resistance to any other questions asked."

"So, tell me what you found out."

"His name is Umino Iruka, sir, and he is chunnin from our village. There was a Konoha hitai-ate found on his person."

My eyebrows rose at that statement and I could tell from the pause that The Snake didn't know what to make of it either. If he was from our village, wouldn't someone have recognized him? I inclined my head a little to better hear the rest.

"If he is from our village, why have I never heard of him before?"

"He told me that he was sent out on a mission to the Waterfall country roughly two years ago. My guess is that he was written off as a missing nin and forgotten about. His name isn't on the memorial stone, so I don't think he was too important here in the village. He wouldn't disclose any information about the mission other then there was an 'unexpected delay', but he did give me these…"

There was a small 'thud' of what I could only assume were scrolls hitting the wood of the Hokage's desk. More silence followed, and then The Snake let out a small chuckle.

"Two years and he comes home half-dead with the mission completed? How admirable. What do you think Ibiki? Is he trustworthy?"

"I would say so. He didn't breach security or give any outstanding information on the village or his mission, even under threat of being left to die. If he's a spy, then he's a very good one,"

"Very well then. I want your medics to heal him to the best of their ability. He will stay in one of the interrogation cells for the night and then come to me in the morning to give details about his mission. If I deem him trustworthy, he will return to the shinobi ranks as soon as he is able. If he is unfit to make our meeting, you will send a summons to inform me of this and I will come to him. Am I understood?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama"

"Excellent, you are dismissed"

-

I immediately snapped back into my lazy, disinterested pose and returned to reading my book. I wasn't too worried, but it wouldn't look very good if I was caught listening in on the Hokage's privet conversations.

The door opened and Ibiki stepped out followed by a, "Come in, Hatake," from The Snake. Ibiki and I exchanged a glance as we passed by, nodding our heads in acknowledgement of one another. The door closed as I walked inside the office, stopping at the Hokage's desk and standing, book in hand, ready to give my report.

Orochimaru was not sitting at his desk when I waked inside. Instead, he was browsing through the filing cabinets surrounding the outer walls, no doubt looking for something on this Umino character. It didn't take him long to find what he was looking for, and he made a pleased noise as he extracted a thin manila folder from the bottom drawer of one of the cabinets. He stalked back over to the desk and sat down, placing the file in front of him and crossing his arms over it. He smirked at me and I could tell by the gleam in his eyes that he knew how interested I was in this whole 'Umino' thing.

"You're late, Hatake," he intoned in a condescending manor. If it wouldn't have gotten me arrested for treason, I would have given him the finger. I settled for flipping a page in my book and glaring a little at the words I wasn't really reading anymore.

"I got stopped by the village troll at the gate and he wouldn't let me pass until I answered a complex riddle and force-fed him ramen through a straw." Some things will never change; I guess I can take comfort in that.

"You know, you really should put that book away while speaking to your superiors." His tone was cocky, and I could tell he was enjoying every minute of bossing me around.

"I should." Another page flip, and a bored stare I had perfected through years of emotional turmoil. I was pushing my luck, but he would only throw me out of the village over circumstances much more substantial. I was, after all, one of the best ninja in Konoha.

He made a displeased "Tch" noise in the back of his throat and lost the playful gleam in his eyes. He cleared his throat and decided to get down to business, continuously glaring at my book as if it had shown him up.

"So, Hatake, what is your report? Was anything found?"

"The squads recovered no evidence of further disturbance around our boarders, Hokage-sama." He knew quite well that there was nothing else in the trees; he just took pleasure in having us work for free.

"Good, you are dismissed." As I turned to leave I heard the rustling of paper behind me. The Snake was reading his file just to taunt me. I didn't make it to the door before his voice stopped me.

"Tsk, Tsk, Poor Umino. Orphaned in the Kyuubi attack, no other family or friends to take of him, less than remarkable grades in the academy, became a chunin at age 16, worked in the mission room for two years, deployed on an A-rank reconnaissance mission to Waterfall at age 18, declared missing eighteen months later, no funeral held. Looks like the only person who knew this guy existed was the Sandaime. Guess it won't really matter what I end up doing with him…."

I could feel his victorious smirk on my back; silently telling me that he would always win between us, no matter what. There was nothing that I could do, another person now dead or worse because of me.

I had failed again.

I made no change to my posture, and gave no response to The Snake. I walked on autopilot out of the office and the rest of the way home. I had never felt more hatred for any other single person in my entire life.

I collapsed on my bed, violently tugging off my hitai-ate and throwing it on the floor. Konoha wasn't my home anymore; it was just a place where I lived. I curled into a ball and tried desperately to forget everything. Forget the past, forget Orochimaru, forget the sad little lump of brown that was just like me in almost every sense of the word.

I had sworn of attachment to anything several years ago, specifically so I would never again end up in this position. So it didn't make sense that I was now huddled into the fetal position, left eye leaking tears for a man I hadn't ever met before. I didn't know what to make of it, but I was well acquainted with the uneasy feeling growing in the pit of my stomach.

_Another little piece of me; gone. _

* * *

**End Notes:** Don't worry guys, Orochimaru won't be putting his hands anywhere the poor little injured Dolphin. I'm sorry for any tense shifting randomly placed in the story. I'm doing my best to keep it in past, but I often forget what I'm doing and switch to present. 

Anyone want to play a little game? There are two places in this chapter where I intentionally altered things to make people think. They are located within the first and second parts of the chapter (Parts are separated with little - lines). Can you spot one or both of them? Winners get a virtual plushie of their choice and the official title of "Narutard". I'll post the answers at the beginning of the next chapter.

Feel free to drop me a line with a guess, a review, a question or just to say something random and out of nowhere. See ya next chapter!

-The Friendly Neighborhood Psycho


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